London
by JustMeMusing
Summary: This fanfic is based on the characters from 'Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries', TV series. It begins after the end of Season 3 (spoiler alert), after my other fanfic "Come After Me" and begins with a chapter from Katinka31's story 'Charming' (with permission). Thankyou to those who are following my progress in this, my first foray into creative writing... Feedback always welcome!
1. Chapter 1: The Savoy

Please note that I have quoted (with permission) almost all of chapter 1 of the story 'Charming' by Katinka31 (appears in _italics_ )

After reading the chapter, I was inspired to continue the story myself and it fit in so perfectly with what I was already working on in 'Come After Me'.

Thankyou so much Katinka31.

 _Smoothing her wind blown Bob as best she could, Phryne Fisher entered the lobby of the Savoy, and paused to exhale. As thrilling as the journey had been in parts, the unexpected delays and her father's whinging had taken their toll, and she wished now for nothing more than to bask in the hotel's opulence. Having left her parents to their incoherent reunion, she could think only of inquiring for telegrams and then retreating to her room for a long, luxurious soak. Unconsciously, her hand drifted to her pocket, where a handful of such telegrams were gathered. Collected at various points along the way, they had both buoyed her spirits and sparked an even fiercer yearning for their sender._

 _Phryne reached the front desk and cleared her throat._

 _She had washed her face as best she could at the airfield's lavatory, but she knew she must still look a sight._

 _"Hello, might you have any messages for Miss Phr - " she began, before a deep voice broke in._

 _"If you're going to demand that I follow you, Miss Fisher, the least you can do is be on time."_

 _Incredulous, Phryne whipped to her right, to the sight of a man seated in an armchair. His legs were languidly crossed, and long, elegant fingers held a newspaper in front of him. He lowered it slowly, until Phryne saw the face that had lingered in her thoughts in innumerable moments, over innumerable miles. His skin was more tanned than she'd seen before, setting off his blue eyes in a striking contrast._

 _"I'm fashionably late, Jack," she replied with a coy smile, holding back the compulsion to fling herself into the armchair as well. "Do you always acquiesce so nicely to demands?"_

 _"I do on occasion, when they're charmingly given." He gave a small smile in return, looking utterly desirable, and a brief glance around the lobby confirmed to Phryne that hers were not the only female eyes with such thoughts. She had the sudden feeling that it had been far too long since she had done something scandalous in London._

 _"How did you - " she gestured with her hand, too tired to even form the question._

 _"Wartime connections, a good deal of luck and the fact that Uncle Ted left a bit more than his coin collection." He turned a page of his paper, briefly glancing up at her again. Though his actions might seem detached to the openly curious desk clerk who was looking on, the flash in Jack's eyes was unmistakable to her, and she was rapidly becoming more desirous to see it in closer quarters. "How were your travels?"_

 _"The travels, lovely. The travelling companion, less so."_

Jack folded the newspaper carefully and stood up slowly. He was so thankful to Mr Butler (again) for getting him here the same day as Miss Fisher; the look on her face was priceless! It was rare that he could get the drop on her like this and he was delighted.

Just for a second, she looked a little weary from her travels and it gave Jack an idea.

"Trust me, Miss Fisher." he said.

He put his hand at her back and gently guided her back to the front desk where the clerk was still watching them.

"May I speak to the manager, please?" Jack enquired.

"One moment."

As soon as the manager appeared, Jack led them to the side of the counter and leaned in for a private chat. He flashed his badge to the manager and explained.

"This is a delicate matter which I hope your reputation for discretion will uphold..."

The manager looked a little bored - 'not another man with his mistress thinking it's the worlds biggest scandal', he thought.

"Miss Fisher, here was recently the target of a crazed murderer back in Australia. Now we have the man who was hunting her down, but I need to check a few contacts in London to ensure that she is safe from any other family or associates the man may have had here."

The manager was suddenly much more attentive and looked at Miss Fisher in fright. He knew her reputation for scandal and did not doubt what he was being told for a second.

"Do you think.." The manager was interrupted by Jack's raised hand

"You and your staff will be perfectly safe," he continued. "He was after Miss Fisher." He pulled her into him a little bit, so that she was now leaning on him, his hand was still resting gently on her lower back and he was trying not to think about it.

Phryne allowed him to move her into place, wondering where this was leading. She was struggling to stay alert and his body felt so warm and comforting that she started to relax into it.

"She has just flown a plane from the other side of the world and will be suffering from exhaustion." Miss Fisher cottoned on to the ruse and dutifully looked weary (without much effort), leaning on both Jack and the counter. "I imagine she won't move from her bed for at least three days" Jack continued.

At that Phryne had to roll her head into his shoulder to mask a smile and stifle a giggle - three days!... Did he just say I'd spend three days in bed... with him?!

Jack smiled inwardly at her reaction, he was loving this. It was about time he got to play the provocateur.

"Now, I will need to stay close by for her protection, so I will camp out on the sofa in her room... And because I won't be there all the time while I am checking leads, I think it would be best if her name is left off the register - at least until she is refreshed and has her wits about her. Could you put a note in the register to say that her arrival has been delayed for a few days? That way, even if the madman's family does come looking for her, they will be turned away." Of course the manager didn't know that the madman's family was also her own...

'Oooh, clever Jack!' She thought, he's making sure no one interrupts us (finally)!

"Of course Sir!" The manager couldn't have been more keen to help. He certainly didn't want madmen wandering about the hotel!

Phryne was impressed at how well Jack was spinning this tale but she was getting restless. She yawned loudly and looked sleepily up at the Inspector. Both men looked at her as though they'd forgotten she was there.

"Um... Who shall I say is in the room?" The manager asked.

"Put it under my name... They won't go looking for me... But for the sake of the staff and our reputations, I guess you'd better put Mr & Mrs Robinson."

Miss Fisher nearly choked on that one. She felt him grip her waist tightly & knew she had to keep it together just a little bit longer. She decided to end this game.

Feigning complete exhaustion, Miss Fisher promptly collapsed into the Inspector's arms.

He wasn't expecting that and nearly dropped her.


	2. Chapter 2: Relax

"Er.. What room is it?" Jack asked. The manager flew into action - he fancied himself as a rescuer of damsels in distress, so he quickly amended the guest register, collected the room keys and motioned for the bell boy to collect their baggage and follow them up to the room.

Once inside the room, Jack carefully laid Miss Fisher on the bed under the watchful eye of the manager. She murmured and rolled over, away from him as if to sleep.

"Will there be anything else, Sir?" he asked.

"Yes, one last thing - I imagine Miss Fisher would like to freshen up a little after her long journey. Could you send someone in to run a bath for her, I'm sure she'll wake long enough for that and she'll feel so much better for it, don't you think?"

"Of course Sir!" and with that, he was gone.

"Mrs Robinson?!"she said accusingly, sitting up from her 'sleeping' position on the bed.

Jack burst out laughing at her. "I couldn't resist" he replied. Her eyes narrowed.

"Have no fear, Phryne, you will _always_ be 'Miss Fisher' to me." he said that so earnestly she knew he was telling the truth. He blushed a little as he smiled at her.

"I'm sure I can think of something else you can't resist, Jack Robinson" she said as she slowly took off her gloves and scarf whilst crawling towards him on the bed...

The tables had turned again. This new relationship thing might end up being lots of fun, she thought.

Jack put his hand up to halt her "The maid will be coming in to run your bath any second."

"Not even a 'hello' kiss on the cheek, Inspector?" she said, temptingly.

Jack coughed "No."

He knew that if he touched her again, he would lose all self control and he couldn't risk blowing the cover he so carefully constructed with the manager, if the maid walked in on them. He didn't know who was likely to be looking for her, but he didn't want any further interruptions after this.

Just then, the maid knocked politely and he ushered her in to the room.

"Just the bath is it, Mrs Robinson?" she asked.

They both looked at her for a second before remembering she was talking to Phryne.

"Yes, Thankyou." As much as she wanted to ravage Jack, right at that moment the bath was the most inviting thing she had seen. She quickly walked over to the bathroom, undressed and almost fell into the tub. For the first time in weeks she could truly relax.

The maid left after being assured that Phryne could cope on her own from there and Jack was alone in the room.

He sat on the sofa feeling quite pleased for himself, wondering if it were all just a dream.

Phryne allowed herself to soak for a while and slowly washed away the weeks of grime from the flight. She felt like she was washing away the effects of her father too - now that he was safely deposited with her mother, he was no longer her responsibility. Finally she could truly relax. She closed her eyes and let her mind unravel the past weeks; uncle Eugene wasn't a threat any more, her father really did love her mother, her mother was happy to have her husband returned and was financially stable again, and Jack had stepped forward to pursue her.

She sighed. Jack. At this point, she really didn't know who was pursuing whom. She knew she wanted to be with Jack, she had played a card and had been waiting for him to do the same. She had stepped forward and so had he - was this a card game or a dance? A competition or ... Phryne realised that they were meeting in the middle - a true partnership, which was something completely new to her. It was scary and exciting at the same time.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax again. She really did need 3 days sleep to allow her tired muscles to relax! Whilst she was fit and really loved flying her plane, her body was definitely not designed to sit in the cockpit for weeks at a time, unable to stretch out or move her arms. She was much more used to action - running, dancing, climbing or lounging in the parlour; definitely not sitting bolt upright for 10 hours a day...

Jack unpacked his suitcase, taking just one drawer and a small portion of the hanging space for his tux, his blue dinner suit and one other day suit. He looked over at Phryne's travel bag & wondered if she knew that Mr Butler had given him a second suitcase of clothes for her. He had given Mr B one of his famous bemused smiles when he'd been handed the case - it matched the one Mr Butler had bought for Jack. He knew he was being manipulated by the man, but Jack found that he didn't mind at all. It also made the ruse more believable to have matching luggage and on his travels everyone just thought he had a lot of clothes...

He decided against unpacking any of her bags and sat back on the sofa. He wished he'd brought the newspaper up with him, although even downstairs, he'd been reading the same article a dozen times, mind racing - what to do, what to say?

He decided that she would be a while, so he would work on his cover story and went back downstairs to talk to the manager again.


	3. Chapter 3: back upstairs

Jack collected Phryne's messages - there was a his last telegram from two days earlier and a message from Mr Butler. He asked the hotel manager to make a note of the names & addresses of anyone who asked after Miss Fisher and then he returned upstairs to the room.

Phryne finished washing and climbed out of the tub, draping a hotel bathrobe around her now clean body. She loved the feeling of her skin after a long hot soak and the robe was so soft and luxurious.

As he closed the door, Jack could hear Phryne in the bathroom and cast his mind back to when he last saw her - flying the plane past the ship waving at him with a big smile on her face.

"Looking rather pleased with yourself, Jack?!" she said.

Jack snapped back into the present and looked over to her, leaning on the bathroom doorway in nothing but a bathrobe.

'Oh God!' he thought '- what do I do now?' He been so patient, so careful about not jumping in too soon - what if it was still too soon? Could this destroy their relationship? All of a sudden he was struck with fear. Miss Fisher prowled over to him and the seductive look in her eyes scared him even more. He gulped and knew he was in trouble.

"Er... No. Just ummm... Reminiscing" he managed to say.

"A pleasant experience in the past, or a fantasy?" She asked teasingly. Phryne looked at his face and decided not to wait for an answer.

"This is a rather... elaborate ruse just to get me into bed Inspector. You know they are quite discrete here at The Savoy - you didn't have to tell them anything. And you don't need to protect my reputation." she said coyly.

Jack grinned, "I would never presume to try and protect you _or_ your reputation, Miss Fisher. " she smiled in acknowledgment. "This way, _my_ reputation remains intact and we shouldn't be disturbed." he said with a smirk, but then he decided to take the lead again; "And if I just wanted to get you into bed, Miss Fisher, I would have done so weeks ago".

She started to protest (what made him think it was _his_ decision?!), but thought better of it - it _was_ the truth, she had been provoking him for ages. She decided to taunt him a little instead. "So what changed your mind, Inspector?" she asked seductively whilst starting to loosen his tie.

Jack replied in a low voice, trying to keep control of himself

He coughed nervously, "You, Miss Fisher..."

She raised an eyebrow.

"You asked me to come after you..."

She smiled. His voice dropped even lower.

"You wanted me to follow..."

She bit her lip, pretending to have difficulty with the tie. He leaned in to her and whispered,

"You wanted..."

Phryne looked into his eyes.

"Me"

and with that Phryne Fisher knew she was in trouble. She gulped. As he leaned in and kissed her, she felt herself going weak at the knees. Luckily, Jack had already slipped his arm around her waist and was pulling her in close to deepen the kiss.


End file.
